


Culture Shock

by FicAlthusserist



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Drama, F/F, F/M, Romance, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25162390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FicAlthusserist/pseuds/FicAlthusserist
Summary: Luz is having the time of her life in the Boiling Isles. But what happens when she discovers something about Witch society that challenges her moral values?
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Edric Blight/Emira Blight, Edric Blight/Luz Noceda, Emira Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 23
Kudos: 94





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first four chapters to this story were written and posted before the airing of episodes 17-19 of season 1 which contained first a minor and then massive lore exposition dumps. This of course renders my own fan lore I have elaborated in these chapters in contradiction to established canon. It is something of a time capsule of free flowing, creative lore speculation before we were given some solid answers.
> 
> Given that when I wrote these chapters the lore was not yet revealed so did not contradict established canon, I do not believe this should be classified as an AU. Rather the following work should be seen as a canon divergence after episode episode 15 of season one, Understanding Willow.
> 
> If you bear this in mind I believe you will get the most out of the following work.

"As president of the Azura Book Club I'd like to welcome everyone who showed up for our founding meeting. I hope all of you will learn to love this series as much as I do. So without further ado, let the first meeting of the Azura book club begin!" Shouted an overly excited, brown haired, teenage girl while raising both hands in dramatic fashion.

"Luz" replied her sole companion, a dry edge creeping into her voice, "It's just us." Indeed, considerable effort had been made to decorate the club room. Colourful posters adorned the walls. While a corner was set up with a table and chairs to play the Azura role playing game. This was complete with maps and story cards Luz had spent the last 2-weeks making. Yet in spite of their efforts, they were the only people currently present.

"That may be the case right now" Luz continued, undeterred. "But soon we'll have dozens, no hundreds of members!" She shouted triumphantly, her eyes taking on a euphoric shine. "I'm just getting in a bit of practice to make sure I'm ready for when the time comes." Her sole companion, Amity Blight was amused by her enthusiasm. She could not help but allow a subtle grin to break out on her normally dour demeanor.

"We'll see" Amity said, trying to rain her new friend in at least a little bit as she casually leaned back against a desk. "In any case what exactly do we do in the Azura Book club? We need at least one more person for the game. Do we just sit around and talk about what we thought of the books?"

"Oh Amity'' Luz began, bringing her palms to rest above her heart in a mock presentation of deep sorrow. "Poor, sweet, innocent, Amity" she continued, before startling the pointed eared girl as Luz left up and rushed to her side. Luz grasped the top of her shoulder with one hand while pointing towards some invisible horizon in front of them with the other. "We are sailors on the traitorous ocean of fandom. All around us are hazards we must avoid. To our port side lie the perils of the icebergs of shipping wars. To our starboard there are the dreaded sand banks of cannon violations." Luz stated in an adventurous tone.

Before Amity had a chance to respond Luz had spun her, bringing them face to face. Both hands now firmly gripping Amity’s shoulders as Luz leaned forward. The tip of their noses touched ever so slightly. This caused Amity to start screaming 'too close, too close, too close' in her head as a blush rapidly spread over her cheeks. "Will you, Miss Amity Blight" Luz continued obliviously, a devilish look in her eyes, "Be my first mate on our epic voyage?"

"Yep, sure" Amity squeaked out in a high pitched voice.

"Awesome!" Luz let out happily, an obscenely huge grin appearing on her face that somehow managed to show every single one of her teeth. She casually let go of Amity and skipped back to her stool. Amity let out a breath she did not even realize she had been holding. She felt a little wobbly on her feet so took a stool opposite Luz.

"Now that that's settled" Luz started up again, "let me present the agenda!" With that she slammed down a parchment scroll she has written up the night before onto the desk. Amity cocked an eyebrow and started reading. It was an intricate set of bullet points covering various, different aspects, of the series. Everything was neatly arranged into various categories and even sub-categories. There were even time indexes next to each of them, showing how long they had for discussing each section.

"Wow" Amity said, genuinely surprised, "This is a lot more...organised...than I expected." Luz tilted her head to the side, showing a little confusion. "I mean, no offence, but, I didn't expect you to take this so...well...seriously" Amity explained.

"Nothing is more serious than fandom" Luz stated stoically, dark circles seeming to appear under her eyes.

"Okay" Amity said nervously, "Should we start then?"

"Heck yeah!" Luz belted out, punching the air. This elevated Amity's momentary nervousness and instead giggling at her friends' excitement, it was pretty infectious.

Over the next hour the two girls conversed earnestly about their favorite series. Their bond grew as they shared their own highs and lows of the saga with each other. Luz gushed ecstatically about the moment Azura finally mastered the crystal light spell. This had allowed her to beat back the shadow demon in the Swamp of Sorrow.

Likewise Amity complained passionately, like a true fan who knows it can do better, about the utterly contrived revel in the third book. In the last chapter it was revealed that the mysterious cloaked helper, who had saved Azura in book two, was Terrence Claymore. He was a warlock Azura had watched die at the hands of the Maravek the Mad Marauder in the middle of the first book. With this new information it turned out he had not really died. What Asura thought she had seen was just an illusion.

The last item on the agenda was titled, Random Questions, which Luz explained was an opportunity for anyone in the club to pose a question. These were questions about the series that did not fit comfortably into the established categories. Luz had drawn those up to reflect the most common talking points she had encountered in the fandom on social media.

"Well" Amity said, "There is something about the series I'm a little confused by."

"Yaaaarggh!" Luz yelled, slapping a hand to her eye like a patch and standing on a stool. "Does me First Mate Amity have trouble navigating through some terrible storm?"

"What was that?" Asked Amity, completely baffled by this bizarre outburst from Luz. "Are you okay? Is there something wrong with your throat?" Realizing her mistake, Luz averted her eyes as her face turned red with embarrassment.

"It's fine, don't worry about it, just carry on." Luz mumbled as she sat back down. She wished Eda had taught her a spell to make her invisible.

"Okaaay" said Amity, recovering her bearings. "Like me Azura belongs to the Nobility. She’s a member of the Pinewistle family. They are one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the Kingdom. She is also the only daughter of Lord and Lady Pinewistle. With her father's passing and her mother too old to bear children if she remarried, that will remain so. She is also the eldest child and so the inheritor of the estate, their land and businesses when her mother eventually passes on." Amity recited accurately from the series lore. Luz nodded along, this was pretty basic information. She assumed Amity was mentioning it because it was somehow relevant to the question she was about to ask. "So, on that basis, why is she betrothed to marry the gentleman Eugene Ercart?" Amity finally asked. Luz was in all honestly surprised. To her it was a question that never needed asking, the answer was self-evident.

"Well, they are another wealthy and powerful family" Luz answered, "If they marry their estates would be merged, their combined wealth and property would be spread between the two families."

"Exactly!" Amity exclaimed, "It doesn't make any sense!" Luz was completely dumbfounded, what exactly made no sense about what she had just said? When she had suggested starting an Azura book club, discussions of feudal economics was not something she had expected to cover.

"I'm sorry Amity but, why doesn't that make sense?" Luz questioned. Now it was Amity's turn to be bewildered 'seriously' she thought, 'does she really not get it?'

"Well" Amity began, "Their combined assets would be divided among far more people with the families on both sides clawing to get their share. Not to mention the division between them would never truly go away. Behind the facade of union, both families would be doing everything they could to stab the other side in the back. Their enemies would also exploit those divisions, playing one side against the other. At worst, the entire thing could collapse under its own internal pressures. Also custom and practice would not allow them to just turf one side of the family out onto the street. The social repercussions from the rest of high society would be too severe. Even the royal family would be pressured to take action because it would undermine social stability. By contrast the expansion of a Nobel's family's assets at the expense of others through competition, conquest or deception allows for the increase in a family's wealth, power and prestige without sacrificing a single, stable, united family's central hold on it."

In all her years reading the Azura series such thoughts had never entered Luz's mind. Her brain was wheeling from the level of detail contained in Amity’s monologue. Clearly Amity, a young Noble herself, was more informed on these issues. To Luz these issues might get, at best, a single, rushed, module in her history studies at school. Yet for Amity, it was no doubt part of normal dinner conversation in the Blight household. It was times like these that the incredible, other worldly nature of her temporary residency in the Boiling Isles was really brought home to her. And yet, as out of her depth as she knew she was, Luz detected something off about what Amity had said. What about the long term?

"Sure" Luz started, choosing her words very carefully as she didn't want to accidentally say something foolish and look like an idiot in front of Amity, "But even taking all that into account, Azura's not immortal. She has to marry eventually to mother a child herself, to continue the Pinewistle line or it would come to an end."

"Oh I'm not disputing that" Amity answered casually, "But it's not like she's an only child, she has four younger brothers. Sedrick and Justin are already old enough to wed while Bento and Lucius will be soon enough. She could be betrothed to marry any one of them. Quite frankly it stretches credulity a bit that their parents didn't pick one of her brothers for her not long after he was born. They could have then prepared them throughout their childhood for their future marriage."

"Wait, what?!" Luz exclaimed, in complete shock, her eyes widening as she fell off her stool.


	2. Chapter 2

“Welcome back!” Hooty called out excitedly to his approaching master, “I missed you so-” and was cut off mid sentence as Eda opened the door and went inside.

What greeted her upon entering her humble abode was the sight of her student Luz on the ground in a fetal position. Eda’s minion King, although he would never agree to such a degrading title, was poking Luz with a stick.

For the briefest of moments Eda considered intruding on this little scene, before realizing she really didn’t care. Ignoring the two of them, she made a beeline for the kitchen. In her cupboards Eda had several kilos of grapes. With the application of a simple aging spell those gapes would be wine. With it’s short term effect it was often cast on themselves by teenage witches to sneak into bars or clubs. ‘Sure’ she mused to herself, ‘the effects only last a few hours but I’ll be drunk by then so it doesn’t matter.’ Eda’s thought’s of drunken bliss were sadly interrupted by King.

“Eda!” King called from the living room, “Luz is broken!” 

“Does she have a pulse?” Eda called back, sighing despondently while getting her grapes.

“No! Oh cruel fate why have you taken my future slave from me!?” King wailed, pounding his tiny paws of fury on the floor.

“Did you remember to check a vein?” Eda shot back dryly as she began pulping the grapes into a bowl.

“Of course I did!” King shouted in righteous indignation, “Humans have veins in their hair right?” Content for the moment that Luz was almost certainly not dead, Eda began to apply her aging spell to the squashed grapes. While working her magic, literally, Eda thought back to her pupil. ‘She probably just saw a new nightmarish horror from the darkest recesses of her nightmares,’ she reasoned. ‘She’ll snap out of it in a couple of hours. If she’s still lying there tomorrow morning I guess I’ll do something.’

While some might be tempted to call Eda a neglectful teacher and guardian, in truth she took her duties very seriously. It was a combination of her firm belief in the importance of self-discovery and her jaded nature that often gave off the wrong impression.

Still, when she heard King making plans to consume the allegedly dead Luz, she reluctantly put down her bowl of grapes and headed back into the living room. First Eda checked her pulse correctly, on the off chance she really was dead. She let out a smirk when, after telling King she was alive, he pretended to be a lot less overjoyed than he was.

“So” Eda began, addressing the catatonic girl on the floor. “What manner of foul best do I need to thank for giving me this quiet, far less annoying Luz? One who doesn’t bug constantly to teach her magic.” A sound emanated from the girl below her that was like a frog croaking form inside a very thick sock. “Thank you for that extremely articulate answer,” Eda let out sarcastically.

“Come on Luz” King interjected, “Use your inferior human vocal cords.”

“Amity” Luz finally let out, her voice filled with dread.

“The snot nosed brat?” Eda asked puzzled, “I thought you two were getting along now. If she’s giving you a hard time, then I have a great potion that’ll make her fart every 5 minutes. I used it back when I was at Hexside to take one of the popular kids down a peg.” At that she smiled and snorted at the happy memory, “Good times” she added.

“Not Amity...Amity good...thing Amity said...very bad” Luz let out slowly.

“Riiiight” Eda responded, “Care to be a little more specific? I do have places to go, people to see you know, and I don’t wanna be stuck here all day.”

“Liar!” King yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Eda, “You're a lazy bum and you don’t have any friends.”

“Can’t argue with that” Eda chuckled, “But seriously Luz what’s this about, I’m doing that rare parental thing right now.” With gradual, dragging movements, Luz sat up and turned to face Eda. “That’s more like it,” Eda said encouragingly. “Now how about you give me one of those sickeningly sweet smiles that make me forget about all the terrible decisions I’ve made in my life?” With obvious effort Luz forced a weak smile on her face. “There we go” said Eda, smiling herself, “Now take a deep breath and tell me what happened.” As Luz closed her eyes and took a breath to center herself, Eda and King sat on the couch.

“Eda” Luz began, “You and Lilith are sisters right?” Not expecting the conversation to take this detour Eda drew her head back, a little puzzled.

“She was the last time I checked.” Eda said suspiciously.

“Did you and Lilith ever…” Luz then broke off and mumbled something unintelligible.

“Did me and Lilith ever what?” Eda asked, very perplexed. Luz remained silent, her face getting redder as she tensed her muscles. “Come on kid spit it out” she continued, a tiny hint of impatience creeping into her voice.

“Yeah” King chimed in, “My species only lives 10,000 years, waiting this long is torture.”  
“Did you and Lilith ever...DATE!?” Luz finally blurted out, her whole body shaking while her eyes looked frantic.

“Oh snap!” Went King gleefully before breaking out into a fit of giggles. Eda meanwhile just sat, open mouthed, unable to respond.

“Well?” Luz asked again, growing defiant, “Did you?”

“Luz” Eda began, talking very slowly, “That is none of your business.”

“So you're not denying it?” Luz responded. She rose to her feet, “You're not acting all disgusted and telling me I’m sick for even suggesting it? Not saying it’s a crime against nature?” Eda was put out, sure Lilith was a pain in the butt and they had conflicting moral values, but she’d hardly call her disgusting. As for dating Lilith being a crime against nature, she really had no idea what Luz meant by that. Eda was about to ask just what the heck she was talking about when she noticed just how much Luz was shaking. As she studied Luz more carefully it dawned on her, ‘she’s really freaking out.’

“Luz” Eda said, allowing genuine concern to show in her voice, “What’s this about? Talk to me.”

“You really don’t know do you?” Luz asked, her voice having this eerie detached quality to it. As she said this she started to back away towards the door.

“Luz?” Eda said, the single word holding the unspoken question as to why she was backing away.

“I’m fine, hunky dory, sunshine and roses” Luz started babbling, “I just need a bit of time alone right now, I’ve gotta process...this.” She said.

“Process what?” Ead asked in a last ditch attempt to get to the bottom of it. At her words Luz winched.

“I’ll tell you when I get back, I promise” Luz answered, “I’ll just be like, an hour or two. Tops.” She opened the door and at the last second before stepping out turned back. “Thank you...both of you. For worrying about me.” She gave Eda and King a heartfelt, genuine smile. Luz left and closed the door behind her.

“I care about you too Luz!” Said Hooty, the enchanted door knocker.

“I know you do” replied Luz, petting his head for a second before heading off.

“Well,” said King, in the house, “I told you she was broken. Why don’t you head to the human world and get us a new Luz?”

“I can be your new Luz hoot, hoot!” Shouted an excited Hooty, who had stretched his head in though the open window. “Oh Eda, teach me a spell, magic is amazing! King you're so cute, I just wanna hug you all day!”

“Eda please!” Wailed King, “In the name of all that is evil and corrupted, turn Hooty back into a lifeless door knocker!”

“I’ll consider it,” Eda replied dryly.


	3. Chapter 3

“Okay, you can take off the blindfold...now,” said an excited, slightly nervous Edric Blight. On hearing the words of her brother, Emira raised her hands to her face and pulled off the long black cloth.

The elder daughter of the prestigious Blight family was greeted to a rather appealing display. Before her was a picnic blanket laid out on the ground. Upon it, laid on silver plates were all manner of strange and exotic foods from the widest regions of the Boiling Isles. Around the blanket was a circle of lit candles, floating 4-feet off the ground.

They were at the beach. That much had been obvious to Emira before the blindfold came off, the heat had given it away.

You see, the laws of geography were somewhat different than those found on Earth. While they too had a sun to cast it’s light upon the Boiling Isles and it’s many inhabitants, it produced no heat. The entire series of islands would have been frozen wastelands were it not for the ocean around it that inspired its name. The water was, well, boiling. The temperature raised by thermal vents on the ocean floor. The steam it generated heated the surrounding landmass, this meant the coastline was a fair bit warmer than the rest of the islands.

The reason for the elaborate beach picnic? Tonight was date night, a courtship ritual the usually rebellious and non-conformist twins, willingly choose to take part in. This was not out of any sentimental respect for tradition, rather they enjoyed the competition it invited. Each time, they took alternating turns, one of the siblings would attempt to oneup the other. It was a little game they played, one would turn on the charm while the other would desperately try and keep their composure. Tonight it was Edric’s turn to go on the offensive.

“Well?” Edric inquired, looking up at her while sitting at the edge of the blanket. “What do you think?”

The enchanted candles were red and already she could smell a faint floral aroma from them. On the ground the blanket was red, matching the candles. Unlike them though, there was a gold trim round the outside. Between the plates of food she noticed the same gold made elegant flower patterns. The fact that the plates were silver made them contrast perfectly with the gold.

The food looked delicious and included all her favorites. There were possessed deviled eggs, you had to cast an exorcism spell on each one before you ate it. Caviar from an armored land fish. They were normally caught from docked boats, casting their nets ashore and then drawing them in the water to drown them. The fruits and vegetables had all clearly been liberated by Edric from Hexside’s Plant Coven’s personal garden. They were bigger and healthy looking than regular vegetables. Emira wondered when he had the time to sneak off and pilfer them without her noticing.

Alongside the savory food were all manner of sweets and treats. There were the usual chocolates, biscuits and cakes and best of all, a box of mood candy. Each box contained a few dozen coloured balls, no bigger than a baby's thumbnail. The colours were mapped to different emotions with the effect only lasting as long as you were sucking it. Given their tiny size that was normally only a few minutes but they were fun while they lasted.

“Kinda lame” She said, smirking while she sat down and reached for some fancy looking biscuit. With a slight chuckle she noticed her brother's eye twitch. Emira took a bite out of the biscuit... she gagged. To say the Blight family were used to finer things would be an understatement. At home they were waited on by professional chefs, while only the most expensive pre-made food was purchased for them. “What demon dimension did you summon these biscuits from?” Emira asked, she used a napkin to get the last traces of the fowl abomination out of her mouth. Edric’s face grew pale, and looked at the ground.

“I made them for you” he said sheepishly, raising his eyes to her and giving a puppy dog pout, “I put all my feelings into them.” Ouch, she felt that, her body was telling her to sigh. To let out a classic awww at his hopeless efforts, but she kept her mouth shut and resisted.

“Well if this is how you feel about me, clearly you hate me and want me dead.” Emira shot back sarcastically. ‘Nice try dear brother,’ she thought as she poured herself a glass of some kind of fruit juice.

The twins fell into normal conversation as the evening progressed, enjoying the food. Every once in a while Edric would slip in a well placed compliment or sexual innuendo and she’d pretend not to notice. As time went on though she was finding it more and more difficult.

Oh sure they flirted with other people when they were out together. The new human girl Luz had been fun, but it was mostly to get a rise out of each other. She chanced a glance in his direction and they made eye contact. Edric wore a confident, amused grin on his face. ‘Damn it,’ she thought, ‘he knows he’s getting to me and loving every second. I can’t give him the satisfaction.’

‘I guess it’s about time I made my move,’ Edric supposed, he stood up and took out a small scroll from his left pocket. Emira noticed he seemed nervous, it made her suspicious, assuming it might be an act.

“So” he began. “I was up last night thinking about this evening, and I decided I’d do something I’ve never done before.” Emira looked at the scroll in his hand.

“Don’t tell me” she said, smirking wickedly, “You finally learnt how to write your name?”

“No” Edric shot back, rolling his eyes, “I wrote you...a poem!” Emira’s face froze. ‘He did what?’ She thought. In the Boiling Isles, a Witch writing a love poem to someone, was a serious romantic gesture. It signified that simple words were not enough to express how you truly felt about them. There was only one appropriate response she could give to such a bold declaration.

“You...absolute...dork!” Emira said while laughing. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please go ahead dear brother and impress me with your fancy words.” Even with her cruel mockery Edric did not falter, in fact he didn’t even flinch. For unbeknownst to Emira, this was no ordinary poem. Clearing his throat Edric began reading.

To some love is a chain that suffocates,  
You are bound in body and soul,  
You own and are in turn owned,  
Never free,

As he read the poem the scroll began to glow. In the air between the two siblings various strands of coloured light emerged. They formed shapes inspired by the mental imagery brought forth by the words in the poem. Edric, ignoring the gasps of his sister, continued to read.

Brought to the world together,  
Never leaving your side,  
I journey with you though life,  
Sharing every laugh,  
Every tear,

Emira sat transfixed, moisture forming in the corner of her eyes. She realized the spell was drawing from their own memories. The light formed scenes showing the purest, love filled moments of their lives together.

She saw them as young children playing hide and seek. She had found him behind a silk curtain and had tickled him though it. His thrashing around made it fall off the rail, covering both of them. They both laughed as they ran away from a shouting maid like some kind of curtain ghost.

There was their first kiss. Their first real kiss, not the little pecks they had been giving each for as long as they could remember. They were ten, for the last couple of weeks things had grown awkward between them. Neither knew what was wrong, they just felt frustrated when they spent time together. Even their parents had started to worry, with the odd concerned look and whisper between each other.

In the end they decided on an emergency meeting in their secret sibling clubhouse. This was a crawl space they had broken into though one of the many unused rooms in their mansion. It was pretty cramped in there, their faces only a few inches apart as they tried to talk it out. They talked for several minutes, their faces growing flushed until they...stopped talking. They’d been holding hands so tightly when they came out, it was like it hurt to let go. Both their faces were red and they couldn’t stop smiling at each other.

Noticing her reaction Edric almost lost his focus. ‘That would have been like tripping right in front of the finish line,’ he thought. With some effort he finished the poem.

If you run ahead,  
I’ll catch up,  
If you fall behind,  
I’ll wait for you,  
If a string of fate connects us,  
I’ll cut it,  
My hand is here for you to take,  
As long as you choose to,

With the conclusion of the poem Edric stepped forward and offered his hand to his still sitting sister. At first she didn’t notice, being too distracted with rubbing the partly formed tears from her eyes. When she did look up and saw her brother's outstretched hand she realized he had already won. Emira knew there was no magical power strong enough in the whole of the Boiling Isles that could stop her from taking his hand. She did so, meeting his goofy love sick smile with one of her own. The moment was short lived however as with surprising force he pulled her to her feet and snaked a hand around her waist.

“Edric?” Emira questioned, her heart racing. He just continued to smile at her as he directed them off the blanket and onto the sand. With swift movements he initiated a dance that she was quickly swept up in. As pampered Nobel’s, the twins had received formal dance lessons since they were old enough to walk. They fell into step easily as she led him across the sand in a waltz like dance.

The dam around Emira’s heart was on the verge of collapsing under the pressure. Already her feelings were seeping out through the cracks. She knew that the slightest push and she’d surrender completely. Not to him, but to herself, the part of her that desperately wanted to lose the game. Yet even this close to the end her pride would not allow her to just give in. Futile as she knew it to be, she made one last ditch effort to hold on.

Emira had noticed that the dance they were doing was technically incorrect. There was nothing wrong with their moments, both performed with near flawless grace. The issue was that, in this particular dance, the man was supposed to lead.

“So Edric” Emira said, her voice coming out a little more breathless and husky than she would have liked. “Any reason you're not leading? Are you not up to the task?” Her brother grinned and replied not missing a step.

“You're leading because” he started, then paused, spinning her round a few more times before the dance called for them to come up close. As their bodies met he leaned in, she felt her breast press against his. Emira bit down on her lip to suppress a moan as he brought his face to hers. She thought he was going in for a kiss. Her lips parting on their own, her control gone. Yet at the last second he moved to the side and brought his lips to her ear, he whispered, “Wherever you lead, I’ll follow you.”

The dam burst as Emira broke free from the dance, flung her arms around her brother and crashed her lips into his. Unprepared for the passion that his sister unleashed upon him, Edric lost his balance and they both fell to the ground.

“I guess this means I win?” Edric let out with a smirk between the burning hot kisses from his sibling.

“Just shut up and kiss me!” Emira shouted back, her frustration almost unbearable.

After half an hour of pretty intense making out and some groping, the twins calmed down enough that they moved back to the blanket and cuddled. Why had things not progressed to their natural conclusion? It was difficult to explain. At sixteen Edric and Emira felt their minds and bodies were mature enough to go further. In fact over the last few months there were times they had gotten pretty close, so why the hold up?

The truth was, they were scared. Not in terms of a performance anxiety towards the deed itself. They were both far too comfortable with each other to have such hangups. Rather it was the fact that, to both of them, taking such a step felt so serious. In the long run they knew it was going to happen eventually and bring them even closer together. But in the here and now, what they had at the moment felt right for them. Their comfortable silence was finally broken by Edric.

“Do you think I may have set the bar a little too high for our next date night?” Edric asked with a cocky grin while stroking Emira’s hair.

“Oh get over yourself” Emira replied, nuzzling her head into his chest, “As if you can last more than a minute against my feminine charms.” Edric let out a snort at his sister’s boasting. “Oh it’s true,” Emira continued as she lazily moved her fingers back and forth though her brothers. “You’ll be all, Emira I can’t resist you! You're so beautiful! Take me now!” At that the twins both broke into laughter.

“Well after what I put you through tonight, I guess I’ll say it first.” Edric said, taking hold of her hand. “I love you, Emira.”

“I love you too Edric.” Emia said back, both sighing in blissful contentment.

“Hey Emira?” Edric asked, breaking the mood.

“Yeah?” Emira answered sleepily, her eyes half closed and wondering if she should try taking a nap on her brother's chest.

“Isn't that Luz over there?” Emira opened her eyes wide and raised her head. She scanned the area where Edric was looking. She saw Luz walking towards the beach a little further down from where they were lying. On reaching the sand the human girl sat down and just stared out to sea, she hadn’t seen them. Although it was starting to get dark, there was enough light left for Emira to notice how red and puffy her eyes were, it was clear she had been crying.

“She looks upset.” Emira said to her brother below, “You want to go and say hi, maybe see if she needs help?”

“Yep” Edric replied, just help me tidy up first. After a few minutes everything was packed away into a basket and the magic candles had been sent to the corn field.

Both still very much feeling the afterglow of date night, the twins were holding hands as they approached Luz.

“Hey Luz” they both called out in unison as they were getting close. Not expecting company Luz snapped her head towards them before instantly relaxing as she recognized their faces.

“Hi guys” Luz said in response, giving a weak smile. Hey eyes trailed down and she saw their clapped hands. A blush formed on her cheeks as she took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and feeling a calmness wash over her. The twins sat down next to her.

“So Luz, you okay?” Emira asked in a friendly tone.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Edric interjected. Luz looked to their faces, then the hands they were still holding and back again.

“I’m not even sure where to begin.” Luz started, “But I think, of all the people I could talk to about this, you're the ones that could help me understand.” The siblings looked at Luz with a clueless expression on their faces. “At this point it’s probably pointless for me to ask, but I have to be sure. Tell me, do you know what the word...incest...means?” Edric and Emira both drew a complete blank..

“Is this some human thing?” Edric asked, perplexed.

“No” Luz said, sounding a little sad, “At least, it shouldn’t be.” She pinched the bridge of her nose for a second before continuing, “Okay I’m going to start from the beginning. This might take a while to explain and please don’t get mad.”

“Mad?” Emira asked confused, “Why would we get mad?”

“Because” said Luz, “I’m going to tell you that your...relationship...is wrong.”


	4. Chapter 4

Emira lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling aimlessly. In spite of the Blight family’s lavish wealth the room was surprisingly bare, lacking much in the way or ornamentation. Apart from a pitifully small bedside table the room was basically empty. All her clothes were stored in a walk-in wardrobe which also contained a dressing table for her cosmetics.

No pictures or posters adorned the walls. Even the purple paint itself had faded, attempts at upkeep long forgotten. It was not a room that felt lived in. Were it not for the small collection of framed, magically captured, family photos and a few books that sat atop the bedside table you’d think it was unused.

The reason for the discrepancy between the room’s furnishing and the family’s opulent wealth was not born from some kind of spartan, bohemian tendencies in the teenage girl. In the abstract she had no problem with sleeping in a bedroom with lavish furnishings but doing so under the current circumstances would have felt like a betrayal.

To give you some context, the current situation was not always so. Back when Emira was a preteen her room had resembled that of her younger sister Amity. It made sense to make the room as comfortable as possible, allowing her own artistic sensibilities to be expressed in it’s design. After all, she spent many evenings hanging out there, alternating between it and her brother Edric’s room. The twins falling asleep together in whatever room they were both in at the time when it got late.

This had come to an abrupt and somewhat traumatizing end a few months after the siblings turned eleven. Their parents had sat them down for a delicate talk about the new boundaries that would be coming into effect and the reasons behind them. Sleeping together in the same bed was no longer...appropriate.

Their parents were overjoyed at the blossoming love Edric and Emira shared for each other, confirming the betrothal with their own, honest feelings. Nonetheless, with puberty on the horizon for both of them, preemptive action had to be taken. There was a risk of them getting carried away and a new generation of the Blight family arriving years before they were ready. Ideally not before their marriage on their eighteenth birthday. Witch high society was not so strict in adherence to custom, that the family would be cast out for children born out of wedlock. They would however lose some face and so it should be avoided if possible.

The twins had both developed a deep crimson blush on their cheeks with the implication of what was being told to them. It was not something they had yet ventured to raise with one another. Yet secretly they had both started thinking about it, even if only as an innocent fantasy at this stage given their respective age.

Deep down, both the Blight twins knew their parents' new rules made sense but that didn’t mean they liked it or could stop themselves rebelling. The next few weeks had been absolute hell with frequent attempts to sneak into each other's rooms and furious arguments when they inevitably got caught. It didn’t help that for the longest time they found it almost impossible to fall asleep without each other’s company. There was emotional comfort from the physical contact along with the soothing effect of hearing each other's breathing. Most of all was the security they felt from knowing that if either of them woke up from a harrowing nightmare, they could wake the other and be held by them until they felt better.

To their credit their parents had been very understanding. As a married couple still very much in love who shared a bed, it was easy to empathize with their children’s pain at being forcibly separated like this.

When the sneaking around and arguments eventually stopped, they both adopted a new way to express their frustration more passively. Slowly, over the next few years, Edric and Emira’s respective bedrooms began to reflect the cold, sterile, uninviting place they found them to be without the other’s presence. Their bedrooms were now only a place to sleep, nothing more.

Under normal circumstances the siblings would be hanging out in a large room downstairs until tiredness caused them to withdraw to bed. It was a room that defied easy classification. It was simultaneously a living room with large, comfy couches, a study with a couple of desks in one corner and a games room with various Boiling Isles classics. Tonight however was far from normal circumstances and so Edric and Emira were residing separately elsewhere.

Currently Emira was replaying the conversion she and her brother had with the human girl Luz, for the twentieth or so time. She was not unlike a mentally unhinged conspiracy theorist pouring over old newspapers. Applying various mathematical formulas to the articles in the hopes of revealing hidden messages. Each time Emira replayed the conversation she would try to gain new insights and understanding into the bizarre ideas and concepts Luz had attempted to relay to her and her brother.

Rather than be angry, at first the twins had just laughed at Luz’s words. It was simply too much for either of them to get their head around. Something so normal in witch society and more so, something that meant so much to them personally, could possibly be wrong and was impossible to accept. For the first few minutes Emira had just assumed Luz had been joking but as time wore on, with Luz not backing down, it dawned on her that she was being serious.

Luz had told them both that while they thought they loved each other in a romantic and sexual way, they were just confused. The idea was pretty insulting and would have provoked a hash retort had Luz not immediately gone out of her way to stress how they were both victims as well.

Over the next fifteen minutes Luz had put forth her case. Some of the points about DNA and the dangers of generational inbreeding had gone over the twins' heads. Witch society after all, having a roughly 18th century human level understanding of biological science comparatively. What really pricked Emira's pointed ears, however, was when Luz stressed that no matter how happy they seemed, in the long run their relationship was damaging. A chill had run though her spine and her muscles involuntarily clenched. No matter how fantastical what Luz was saying seemed, if there was even a chance that she was hurting her brother, she had to make sure. Of the two of them she had always been the more protective.

“How is this hurting him, I mean us?” Emira had asked in a stern voice that sounded unnatural coming for her mouth, cutting Luz off mid sentence.

“Oh, well.” Luz had said, a little thrown off by the interruption. “The love between people who are not...family...is different. Those relationships, those experiences, it’s how we change and grow. The two of you are...” Luz paused, Emira could see the discomfort on the human teens face. It was clear to her that Luz was not some self-righteous zealot laying out her truth from a position of smug, moral superiority. This was something Luz felt she had to say. She believed she was right, but took no pleasure in it. “When you go out and find someone, you find a part of yourself you never knew was missing. You're holding each other back, not growing, becoming new and better versions of yourselves.”

“And what makes you think she needs to become a better version of herself?!” Edric butted in, his voice raised in anger. “What makes you so sure she’s not perfect already?” He’d stood up and brushed the sand off his legs in harsh, aggressive strokes. “Look, whatever this weird human thing is, it’s got nothing to do with us. Come on Emira, let's go.”

For the second time that evening her brother had extended his hand down to her. She’d wanted to take it, to push everything Luz had told her out of her mind and forget it. Instead she’d froze, utterly overwhelmed by the thought, ‘am I somehow hurting him?’ Her accumulated life experience, everything she knew, her heart and soul had screamed at her that what Luz told her was not true. But her head viewing information with dispassionate objectivity, had overridden everything else. Time and again when the twins had gotten into trouble she remembered that it was her head which had got them out of it. ‘Are we in trouble now and I have to save us?’ Emira had considered.

“I...I’m sorry Edric, I want to stay.” She had said to him, rejecting his hand. Emira had locked eyes with her brothers, her naked fear raw and exposed. Edric had recoiled from his sister, his shock at her expression evident. He’d looked dazed as though he’d been hit. A moment later his face had taken on a look of blind panic and he’d stumbled backwards.

He’d grabbed the picnic basket and ran. Feelings of guilt had flooded Emira and she’d tried to call out to him. The words had died in her throat, no sound came out. She’d wanted to get up, chase after him and tackle him to the ground. To make him understand that whatever this was they’d figure this out together like they did everything else, but her legs had refused to move. ‘What have I done?’ Emira thought, a numbness had spread throughout her body. Tears had fallen from her eyes even while she remained unmoving like a statue. In a detached way, like a half remembered dream, Emira had registered Luz hugging her.

“It’s okay” the human girl had said in a soothing voice. “Everything is going to be alright. I know it feels bad right now but trust me the pain will go away. Someday you and Edric are going to find love with someone else, and you’ll both be so happy.”

Back in the present Emira Blight continued to lie on her bed. She reflected on Luz’s final words to her. ‘Could I really find love with someone other than Edric?’ Like a blind man lost in the woods she fumbled forward slowly groping towards the idea.

She recalled people past and present she’d thought of as cute. Visualizing kissing them was not too difficult. She’d had fantasies before, most of the time her brother had been in then too, either taking part or just watching. When Emira ventured further though, adding a relationship and love, she shuddered in revulsion. Anything beyond a meaningless kiss felt like a violation. A profound sense of wrongness, nothing she could ever consent to but only ever forced on her. 

Emira’s thoughts then turned to her brother, the pained look on his face as he backed away from her. She wondered if he felt betrayed by her one moment of doubt for the most selfless of reasons, if he felt she had turned her back on their relationship, on them. ‘If I really am hurting him, would that not be for the best? Would it be easier if he grew to hate me?’ Emira pondered. As much as the idea tore into her, she knew she would somehow learn to bear it for his sake. 

With nervous trepidation she considered the possibility that Edric might move on from her. An image flashed in her head, it was her and her brother's wedding. A wedding they had been thinking about since they were five and had their first play wedding with all their stuffed animals in attendance. Only this time it was not her standing by Edric’s side exchanging vows in front of their friends and family but someone else. She was sitting with their parents in the front row. Emira tried to focus on the person standing next to Edric but their face was obscured in a dark shadow. She could not make out anything, the colour of their eyes, their hair, even if they were male or female. It didn’t matter though, the only thing that mattered was it wasn't her. Shifting her focus in the image to Edric she noticed the look of all consuming love on his face, as he gazed longingly at the shadowed figure. 

It was too much. Emira felt pain and nausea churning in her stomach. It felt as though she was being sick and stabbed at the same time. With lightning fast movements Emira bolted off her bed and burst through the door of her en suite bathroom. There she wretched into the toilet, the wonderful food and drink from her brother's picnic half digested, laying in the toilet bowl.

After cleaning her mouth, Emira realized she lacked the mental energy to return to bed. She allowed herself to slide down to the tiled floor. Her cheek pressed against the cold surface and she began to cry. Not the silent tears that had trickled down her face at the beach, this was a heavy, heartfelt sob.

“Edric” she let out though her weeping, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Eventually sleep consumed her and she drifted into unconsciousness on the bathroom floor. 

***

Edric’s footsteps echoed throughout the high ceilinged room in the Blight manor, home to the families library. In the class ridden society of the Boiling Isles there were books for the masses that could be found in any public library, then there were those for the elites that were hoarded away. Even if one of these more valuable books were to somehow find its way into the hands of the common rabble, it would not do them any good. Such books were always cursed to prevent anyone not of Noble blood and who had come of age from reading them. Best case scenario the letters would seem to be dancing around the pages rending it illegible. At worst their eyes would burst into flames.

Walking past the bookcases containing the most devastating spell books, Edric instead stopped in front of the history section. As a famous twentieth century Earth novelist and political commentator once wrote, ‘Those who control the present control the past, those who control the past control the future.’

To say that the general population was ignorant of their history, would be an understatement. A few hundred Noble families dominated cultural and political life in the Boiling Isles. It was widely believed that they had been around since the dawn of their civilization, tens of thousands of years ago. Before them, witches had been utterly barbaric and savage, no better than wide animals constantly killing each over food or territory. Not only that but the founding Nobles formed a binding pact with powerful demon lords, who granted them and their bloodlines the wisdom necessary to render only them fit to rule. This quaint story had no basis in fact whatsoever.

The rise of the Nobility in the Boiling Isles was not ordained, instead it had been a brutal seizure of power. This radical transformation had taken place only eight-hundred years ago. Prior to this witch society had been along tribal lines. There were no castes or classes exploiting and presiding over everyone else and no state to enforce social and physical coercion. While the tribal elders held a nominal position of power and authority due to their experience, they could not make decisions arbitrarily. Large gatherings were a common occurrence where every proposal was put to public scrutiny and needed majority support before it could go ahead. While among humans, tribalism had kept society at a substance level of existence, in the Boiling Isles this had been overcome with magic.

The catalyst for change had been the discovery of the human realm. The small number of witches who had crossed over, had been fascinated by what they had found. A society devoid of magic that had nonetheless built great towns with a flourishing of art and culture. They moved unseen among humanity, perplexed by how this could have been achieved. In time though the secrets of human feudal society were revealed to them. Every impressive feat of human civilization was built on the back of exploitation.

Initially they were disgusted. What they saw clashed so strongly with the values they have been raised with back home. A few of them even revealed themselves to humans and tried in vain to use their magic to help them. Their acts of kindness were met with fear and hysteria with some being burned alive or drowned. As time went on however, more and more of the visitors began to grow accustomed to the power some humans yielded over others. Eventually this twisted into envy and a desire to hold such power over their fellow witches.

In shadowed basements and in the middle of thick woods, away from prying eyes, the cloaked conspirators had met. Discussions had dragged on for many years, trying to overcome their conscience that screamed in protest at what they were planning.

Eventually they struck, unleashing a level of violence and terror on a scale that was utterly beyond the comprehension of the peaceful and gentle witches on the Boiling Isles. All the tribal elders were assassinated within a few hours before they even knew what was happening. After that the conspirators were indiscriminate in the killings they inflicted on the population. Their goal was nothing less than breaking their fellow witches so completely that those they left alive would submit completely to their rule.

On ascending to their newly crafted throne, an Empress was chosen to hold additional executive powers. They were to keep the newly formed Noble families in check. Stopping them from causing too much damage in their battles for power, forcing it along lines of competition and intrigue.

Taking a cue from the scarcity of resources in human society which gave rise to classes, they imposed a restriction on the free use of magic though the coven system. Gone would be the days when every witch had the potential to be self-sufficient, and the culture that promoted the most powerful magic users helping and supporting the weaker ones.

Such was the secret history of the Boiling Isles. A truth so profound it’s revelation could threaten the stability of the ruling Noble families.

For many hours Edric had been pouring over various dusty volumes chronicling the observations made by the ancient witches of human society. As part of Edric’s coming of age rites and passages when he turned sixteen, he and Emira had been told the whole sordid truth regarding the origin of the Nobel families. Certainly it had been a shock, to learn the blood passing through his veins was no different than any other witch. The twins had discussed their thoughts and feelings on the matter at great length. This was always done in a magically soundproofed room deep in the manor, least any of the servants hear so much of a whiff of it. 

They were both deeply disturbed by the violence. Not the acts themselves, the Boiling Isles was by no means a peaceful commune. Death and violence was something you quickly learned to live with. Even their own school was founded after a battle that left many slain. It was the one-sided nature of it, this was not a battle of conquest but cold blooded murder on a mass scale. The word for genocide was absent in the witches vocabulary but it was a concept they were none the less confronting.

For all their privileges and the arrogance drilled into their heads since birth, the Blight twins were still good, decent people. Many layers of magical curses had been placed upon them during the first half of the ritual before they were told the truth. These curses, like the ones placed on the books, prevented them from revealing what they learned to anyone but another Noble that had also reached maturity. Were it not for them they would have ran through the streets shouting the secrets to everyone they came across.

Over the proceeding days their parents had spent a great deal of time with them, joining them in the soundproof room to talk about it. Edric had been surprised to hear from his parents that they too had gone through the same pain and confusion. While throughout their lives they had given off such an unapologetic air of elitist snobbery, here in this miniature world away from high society, their parents had let their masks slip.

There was, Edric noticed, a tired sadness in his parents eyes. They spoke of feeling like frauds whenever conversing in a forced, condescending tone to those below their station. At one point, the joy at being able to share these forbidden thoughts with his children overwhelmed him, his father had said if he could cast a spell to wipe the slate clean he would. No more Noble families, no more Emperor, no more covens. It was nothing more than a dream, a beautiful but dangerous dream.

Their parents' faces had darkened then as they taught their children the most important lesson of their lives. That the majority of Nobles did not think like them, how in their late teens other Nobles had spoken to them of how they wished they could have been there. Going into grotesque details regarding the sadistic and depraved things they would have done against their fellow witches. If they ever voiced such thoughts, regarding the injustice of what had been done and how it was morally indefensible to continue, they would be killed.

With the moon at its apex Edric had worked his way through several dozen books. He skimmed through them to find relevant sections and read those in full. The social taboo of incest in human society had been noted many times. It was not that he had doubted Luz, at least not once she had become so serious. But he needed more information than an emotional fourteen year old girl could give.

There were indeed examples of it tearing apart families. Parents beating their children who engaged in, people committing suicide from the shame of their feelings and it even being used to inflict abuse on children by their parents or other older relatives.

Putting down the book he had been reading, Erdic leaned back against a bookcase and sighed. It was not difficult to understand why Luz had reacted so strongly to this, given the way it manifested in her world. He tried to imagine how he would feel if the situation were reversed. If he was living in the Earth realm and encountered two siblings who loved each other. Said siblings were ashamed of their feelings, believing them to be wrong. They denied them and were living miserable, empty lives or worse were planning to take them. ‘Would I not fight as strong as Luz had? To convince them otherwise, to spare them from pain and make their lives better as I understood it?’ Edric mused.

As much as he felt for Luz and the impossible situation she found herself in when this had been revealed to her, he was not here for her but for Emira. For her sake, he was trying to convince himself that indeed, their relationship was wrong. With a feeling not unlike a rusty knife being dragged across his chest, over his heart, he thought back to that moment on the beach when everything had changed.

He’d had a hard time focusing on Luz’s monologue about him and Emira’s relationship and why it was wrong. After they had stopped laughing, realizing Luz was indeed serious, he had just found himself tuning out. Emira had been more engaged, even asking Luz a question about their love seemingly hurting them. It was when Luz had, in effect, insulted his sister that Edric had lost his patience. Erdic had stood up then and offered her his hand to Emira suggesting they go home. It had never even occurred to him that she’d not take it.

“I...I’m sorry Edric, I want to stay.” She said, her eyes radiating a deep fear. To Edric it could only have meant one thing, ‘she’s scared, she’s scared of me.’ The realization had been horrific, it felt like dying. He’d backed away, struggling to comprehend the situation. ‘Have I been hurting her with our relationship and Luz helped her to realize it?’ The thought had crushed him, he’d been unable to breathe. In a blind panic he’d ran, as though he could physically outrun the situation between them. Arrive back to the area they’d had their picnic and find the past version of Emira waiting there for him.

Edric could feel the armies of sleep assaulting his mental defenses. With a grunt he forced himself up and reached for the book he’d been reading. The words, they had to stick, he had to make this human truth his truth. ‘My feelings for Emira are wrong’ he thought, forcing the idea into his head even while his heart protested.

He tried not to focus on that pain he was feeling, even while his hands were shaking as he turned a page. Edric knew that if he allowed himself to dwell on it for even a moment he’d go to pieces. For his entire life he had lived as Emira’s reflection, without her he didn’t even know who he was. The notion of separating from her seemed to Edric, like being buried alive, screaming as he fruitlessly clawed at the roof of the coffin trying to get out.

Yet above all his pain and sorrow was his love for Emira. A love that transcended everything else. He’d always known if the time came he would give his life for her’s. Living a life of suffering, being forever unwhole so she could be happy was ultimately no different.

In the end Edric fell asleep in the library. A servant, while physically covering his eyes to prevent any chance of him seeing the content of the books left open on the floor, draped a blanket over him and left him to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have added a note to the start of the story clearing up some possible questions some people may have with my story with regards to cannon. If you were already reading before this chapter was uploaded I recommend you go back and check it out.
> 
> If any aspiring artists are inspired by my fic and wish to draw an image for me to use as a cover pic, contact me and I will credit you in the description.
> 
> Lastly to my readers, your reviews mean everything to me and are what keep me going. I know this chapter took a while but that was only because I wanted to produce something worthy of the praise the preceding ones have been given.
> 
> Hopefully the next chapter will be out a little quicker. ;)

In his seminal work, The Interpretation of Dreams, the renowned psychiatrist Doctor Sigmund Freud wrote, “ The sheer size too, the excessive abundance, scale, and exaggeration of dreams could be an infantile characteristic. The most ardent wish of children is to grow up and get as big a share of everything as the grown-ups; they are hard to satisfy; do not know the meaning of ‘enough.”

Modern psychology has, for the most part, moved on from Freud’s theories with it being increasingly sidelined by the medical community embracing neuroscience. Today his writings are seen, at best, as a collection of clumsy incites and pointers towards real answers, at worst, a dangerous pseudoscience, best forgotten.

It would perhaps have brought a small smile to the lips of the good Doctor, were he still with us, to know that, in the magical demon realm of the Boiling Isles, his ideas rang true.

Amity Blight was dreaming and like a tiny sparrow caught in a hurricane, her consciousness was being battered from all directions.

Unlike humans, who were rarely aware they were dreaming, witches always knew. While they would never experience the giddy heights that come from true immersion as humans do, the detachment made unpleasant dreams and nightmares easier to deal with. 

With a dispassionate sneer the young witch took in the scene before her. Amity stood high on a marble balcony overlooking a parade being held in her honor. Below she saw a vast smorgasbord of witches and demons carrying flags and banners with her face on them along with some tacky floats and even some giant balloons in her likeness. As each figure passed directly below her they would look up and cry her name, their hands raised, while tears of adulation poured down their cheeks. As for Amity herself, she felt nauseous from the sycophantic display.

With dry detachment she considered the bitter truth that, until a few weeks ago, she would have revealed in the obscene display below. Like a former drug addict looking down disdainfully at a used syringe lying in a gutter, Amity knew that she was not that person anymore. Oh how she wished she could at least take some credit for pulling herself out of the egotistical swamp she has sunk into, but she knew she’d be lying to herself.

Amity knew perfectly well who to thank, a dark skinned human girl with a smile so pure you felt your very soul being cleansed when she directed it at you. “Luz,” Amity said aloud, injecting a tender, softness into her inflection that she would not dare utter in the waking world.

The middle of her pinky on her right hand began to itch and she rubbed it absentmindedly.

Turning her head in disgust from the spectacle below Amity walked into the building attached to the balcony she had found herself on. There was nothing for her here and more importantly, she was not here. As she walked through the open door reality distorted around her and she found herself somewhere else.

Turning her head from left to right once things had settled, Amity took in her new surroundings. She was in what appeared to be an enchanted forest. The trees around her would occasionally shake and each time they did a single note was produced. Working in tandem with each other, pleasant music was reaching her ears. It had a harp like quality to it, only somehow lighter. Despite knowing this was a dream Amity still checked she was alone self consciously before she allowed herself to begin frolicking though forest.

After a few minutes, or perhaps a few hours, for time was always difficult to keep track of in dreams, Amity was startled by the sound of a twig creaking. She froze, raising her hand defensively, her neck muscles stained, only to see a tiny mushroom with little feet and a cute face poke round the edge of a tree nervously.

Smiling warmly Amity dropped to a crouch. “Why hello there,” she said, trying to sound as friendly as she could. “My name is Amity. What’s your name?” Blinking the mushroom came out fully from behind the tree and approached her with nervous footsteps. When it was a foot from her it paused, looking up into her eyes.

“I don’t have a name,” the tiny mushroom said in a quirt, childlike voice. “What are you doing here?” Following it’s question the mushroom moved closer and Amity reached out towards it slowly, petting it’s head.

“Honestly” Amity said, sitting on the forest floor and chuckled lightly as the mushroom hopped up on her lap and snuggled. “I guess I’m looking for someone.”

“Oh,” the mushroom replied, “Are they lost?”

“In a way,” Amity said evenly, running her fingers over the top of the mushroom, causing it to giggle, “You see, all this is a dream, my dream to be exact.”

“All of this?” The mushroom said in wonder, “Even me?”

“Yes, even you,” Amity answered, bopping it’s nose. “There is this human girl, Luz,” at the mention of her name, the middle of Amity’s right pinky again itched. “I’ve wanted to dream about her for about a week but no matter where I go, I can’t find her.” At that a light blush crept across her face.  _ Oh come on _ , Amity thought, shaking her head.  _ It’s not like I want to dream about her and me doing...that. Maybe we could hold hands and k-k-ki-, _ but before she could finish the embarrassing thought the mushroom spoke, breaking her concentration.

“Maybe she’s hiding?” The Mushroom suggested, looking up at her for approval.

“It doesn't work like that,” Amity answered. “I mean, it can and it does, but Luz is not a witch, she can’t hide her form from others dreams.” Just then her face started as a realization struck her. “But that’s not to say she could not be, being hidden.” 

At a surface glance the mechanics of dreaming on the Boiling Isles would seem to be very much like those of the human realm. Witches and demons fall into unconsciousness and their minds are subjected to all manner of strange and surreal experiences. The difference was the existence of the astral plane.

Country to the understanding of some humans who speculate it’s existence in their world, the astral plane was not magical in nature but spiritual. It could best be described as a giant web connecting souls together. When someone in the Boiling Isles dreamt, their innate connection to others in the astral plane becomes heightened. The effect of this was that, when someone dreamt of another whose mind was also within it, you connected with their subconscious.

This was by no means any kind of telepathic link. They would remain blissfully unaware of your access while they enjoyed their own dream. Through this connection though, people would gain some sense of the essence of that person and understand them on a deeper level. It was this understanding that Amity craved, to grow closer to the girl who had saved her and now consumed her thoughts. Any hand holding and other such stuff was just icing on the cake. Really she just wanted to grow closer to her.

Of course such connections had their drawbacks. While they could strengthen the bounds of friends and lovers and even allow enemies to overcome their distrust and hatred, avoiding conflict as they moved forward, sometimes things surfaced that were best left undisturbed. While honesty is a virtue, very few have the strength of character to bare their true selves to the world. While such disclosures were rare, everything after all being filtered through the subconscious, some refused to take that risk.

It was an option by no means open to everyone, only the most powerful witches and demons could master such an ability. Those with such power and the will to do it could seal themselves off. Also and more significantly for Amity given her situation, such powerful witches could seal off others as well. Dreaming about such people in any real capacity was rendered impossible. The moment a mind attempted to give them from the magic involved would travel along the astral plane and shut it down before it even started.

Overkill? Perhaps, but in the past when milder versions of the spells were used that allowed people to still dream of them, just without connecting, problems arose. Information obtained in such dreams were sometimes attributed to the link in the astral plane. A total lock down prevented such misunderstandings. 

Troubling thoughts began to fill Amity’s mind,  _ could The Owl Lady be hiding Luz from me? _ But her mind searched in vain for a motive.

“I like your string,” the mushroom said. “It’s really pretty.”

“My what?” Amity exclaimed, staring down at the mushroom.

“The red one tired to your finger,” the mushroom stated. Amity spread her hands out in front of her eyes.

“I don’t see anything,” the young witch said, confused.

“This one!” The mushroom yelped, leaping up onto Amity’s knee and nudging her right pinky with the top of it’s head. Amity stared at the finger in question, moving it about curiously. She remembered the itch she occasionally felt from it when she dreamt and realized that it seemed to be triggered when she thought about Luz more directly.

Bringing her pinky up to her eye she focused intensely on her memories and feelings for Luz. For a split second, like a flash of lightning, a red string appeared causing Amity to gasp. “See I told you,” the mushroom said proudly. Amity did not hear it, she was utterly transfixed, a million questions flowed through her brain but no answers were forthcoming. Opening her heart and allowing her deepest, most private thoughts and feelings for Luz to surface, the red string appeared again and stayed visible this time.

Gently putting the mushroom down on the forest floor, Amity rose to her feet and started to follow the string, intrigued to see it didn’t sag on the ground but maintained the same mild dip. “Bye!” The mushroom called out, “I hope you find her!” Her mind consumed by the string Amity spared the mushroom only a casual backwards hand wave as she followed it. It was not that she wanted to be rude but, after all, the mushroom was just a part of her own subconscious mind and she was really excited. 

After a short walk Amity came to a dead stop as ahead of her the string disappeared into the trunk of a tree. Raising a curious eyebrow she stepped forward and placed her hand on the trunk, it was absolutely solid. She hummed to herself, considering the problem. She could blast it with magic of course, but was scared about possibly damaging the string. Considering it’s connection to her thoughts and feelings about Luz, she concluded it was safe to assume it was the key to finding her.

Amity’s focus shifted to the exact point the string entered the tree and prodded it with her finger, it went in! Applying more pressure she felt the hole start to give and widen. A moment later she got her whole fist inside, then her arm and eventually her head and torso. With a last moment of hesitation Amity plunged herself into fully the hole, eager to see what awaited her.

_ Well I didn’t know what to expect but it sure wasn't this _ , Amity thought as she took in her surroundings, or rather the lack thereof. All around her was blackness, not in the form of black painted surfaces but the complete absence of light. Amity also was aware she was floating and moved her arms and legs experimentally. She had hoped that following the string would take her to Luz but instead she was here.  _ Oh that’s right, the string _ , Amity thought and felt for it in the darkness. It was twisting behind her, so she flapped her arms to maneuver herself in that direction. On doing so her mouth fell open, she had found Luz and she was...big.

Before her was a giant Luz. Assuming she was still the same size and had not grown or shrunk, this Luz would easily be 200-feet from her head to her toes. She was adorned in the same casual human clothes Amity normally saw her wearing, shorts, leggings and a cat hoodie. The reason she could even see Luz at all was that, unlike the way she had been facing, this side was illuminated by a field of bright stars.  _ Oh, I’m in space _ , Amity realized.

With the added light Amity could make out the string from her finger trailing, perhaps 2-miles, it was difficult to judge the distance, up to Luz where it was tied to her right pinky. “Hey Luz!” Amity called out but to her annoyance discovered that no sound was coming out of her mouth. 

While it might have been expected, there being no sound in space, the reason for that, the lack of air, would have resulted in Amity suffocating. Not to mention her body freezing, the temperature in space being close to absolute zero.  _ Stupid, inconsistent, space dream logic _ , Amity thought bitterly.

It was then that she noticed the giant Luz was looking down at something. Amity followed the giant Luz’s gaze and saw, much to her surprise, her elder, twin siblings Edric and Emira. While she was stuck floating rather helplessly, her siblings were dancing effortlessly through space, the feet on some invisible moving floor.

Their attire was unfamiliar to her, Emira was wearing a plain yellow sleeveless dress that came down to her mid thigh. Adorning the front of it near the top was a small, simple bow tie in a lighter shade of yellow. Her brother Edric meanwhile was wearing a grey suit with a yellow undershirt visible underneath that matched his sisters bow tie, while his own bow tie was the same colour as Em’s dress.

As Amity watched the pair dance with their typical grace and elegance she expected from them. She saw light emerging from their footsteps that splintered off into the darkness to form the ever growing number of stars around them.  _ They are literally lighting up the sky _ , Amity thought, somewhat awestruck.

Breaking her eyes from her brother and sister to the giant Luz and observing how keenly absorbed she was in watching them a spike of jealousy shot through her. For as long as she had been alive Edric and Emira had always been the center of attention. She could only follow in their shadow, denying her a chance to enjoy the sunlight.

There had been times in her youth, during her most important, formative years, that Amity felt like an outsider in her own family. She would walk into a room in her own home where they and their parents were and it would feel to her like she was some awkward house guest they were just putting up with.

Deep down Amity knew she didn’t really resent them. It was beyond their control that they were born first and so would always be ahead of them in experience. To expect them to lower themselves to artificially raise her up was a grotesque notion.  _ Perhaps that’s why I’ve been so driven _ , Amity pondered,  _ I just wanted to be seen _ .

Still, while she did not blame her siblings for their success and even felt genuine respect and admiration for them, to see Luz so mesmerized by them, even a dream version, it hurt.  _ Will Luz ever look at me like that? _ Amity wondered. Did she even want her to? She realized she didn’t, rather than be admired she would rather be dancing with Luz instead like Edric and Emira were below.

_ Dancing with Luz? _ Amity pondered, her face turning beet red. Grom is only a few days away, maybe I could ask her to go with me? The thought was simultaneously the most amazing idea she’d ever had and the most terrifying.  _ I just don’t know how I could handle it if she said no _ , Amity mused.  _ It’s not about my feelings, but to know I made her feel awkward and uncomfortable, it would be like a slap in the face after everything she’s done for me. _

Shifting her gaze down again to the dancers a small half smile emerged on Amity’s lips.  _ They really are perfect together, you can see just how much they love each other _ , she mused. 

Amity cast her mind back to a story their parents often retold, that of the twins birth. Emira had emerged first, crying as newborn babies do, followed a few minutes later by Edric. Her father had Emira cradled in his arms while Edric was placed in her mother's. The minutes went by and no amount of gentle rocking or soothing could stop them crying. They were inconsolable. After a great deal of time her father had grown irritable and handed Emira over to her mother as well.

As Emira was passed over to her mother, the twins took notice of each other, made eye contact and suddenly stopped crying. They had just stared at each other in silence for around a minute, their eyes wide. Then slowly, they simultaneously reached their tiny hands towards each other, making the faintest of contact with their fingertips. The moment that contact was made, they both let out this joyful baby laughter. To this day, 16-years later, their mother still insisted it was the most wonderful sound she’s ever heard.

It was moment’s like these, watching them dance, so utterly comfortable in each other's arms that Amity wondered if the old superstition about twins might be true after all. That twins really did have just one soul between them that they shared.

From the top of her vision she noticed movement and was startled to see that the giant Luz was reaching down towards them. Amity shot her head up and her breath caught in her throat at seeing her expression. The giant girl looked upset, confused and even a little disturbed.

Powerless to do anything but watch in horror Amity saw the giant Luz grab her siblings, one in each hand and violently wrench them apart. “Luz stop!” Amity cried out on instinct, forgetting in the heat of the moment that her words would not reach her.

Amity’s traumatic reaction was matched by Edric and Emira who desperately clawed between Luz’s fingers to reach each other and they were pulled apart, their faces showing primal terror.

Having parted them the giant Luz cast them adrift away from each other. At first Amity was sure they would both turn around, swim though the void towards each other to be reunited in each other’s arms. Instead they both fell still, the life drained from their eyes and they died, their corpses drifting aimlessly.

Her work done, the giant Luz turned and began to float away into the void.  _ Oh no you don’t _ , thought Amity as she tried to propel herself after her, but made little progress. She then remembered the string that, due to its strange properties of always keeping the same level of tort, had been growing in length and pulled herself along it.

Over time Amity started to catch up. When she was maybe 50-feet from the Giant Luz though, she saw her phase through the edge of the current dreamscape.  _ Here we go again _ , Amity thought dryly as she reached the same point and forced herself though like before.

“Ticket?” A vaguely humanoid shaped, male demon asked Amity. He was wearing a red and white striped usher’s uniform. His eyes and lips extended on tentacled stalks that slivered around her, making her feel claustrophobic.

“Huh? What?” Amity said in confusion.,

“Ticket, for the show?” The Demon said a condescending tone. At that he gestured his hand to a massive poster to her right. The poster showed a picture of Luz wearing her multi-track Hexside uniform. She was posing in the shot, winking, with a confident smile and cocking a pair of finger guns to the side. Above the picture in large lettering were the words, THE AMAZING AND FANTASTICAL LUZ THE HUMAN SHE CAN DO ANYTHING!

Taking in her surroundings Amity observed that she was standing at the entrance to a circus tent. The string on her finger disappeared through the entrance.

“I don’t need a ticket,” Amity said casually. She ducked under the demon’s extended tentacles and headed towards the entrance.

Flabbergasted at her impudence the demon’s shot out it’s tentacle limbs, coiling around the young witch like a boa constrictor and turning her to face him. “What makes you think you can just walk in there without a ticket?!” The demon raged, it’s extended lips flapping away right in her face.

Completely unphased Amity fixed the demon with a deadpan look and answered, “Because this is a dream...and I am the dreamer.” Then without missing a beat she raised her hand and a pink fireball emanated from it, striking the demon and engulfing him in flames. Released from the demons tentacles as he rolled around on the floor trying to put himself out, Amity stepped through the entrance.

Inside the tent Amity observed a half circle of seats, most of them already occupied by witches and demons, facing a stage with a drawn curtain. Walking down the aisles she came across one at the front reserved with her name on. Seeing her string wormed its way up onto stage and under the curtain she sat down and decided she would let the show play out rather than try and force her way backstage. Amity’s intuition told her that whatever she was about to experience was important to understanding her human friend.

“Witches, demons and assorted dimensional interlopers!” Came the voice of an announcer through the speaker system. “Put your hands, or some other appropriate appendage, together for our star attraction, Luz the human!”

The audience erupted into applause and Amity clapped along too, an easy going smile forming on her lips.

The curtain parted, reveling Luz standing on the stage. For the briefest of moments Amity felt her heart swell before she fully took stock of her friend and the colour completely drained from her face. “Luz?” Amity uttered in shock and disbelief, her hand rushing to clasp her open mouth.

Up on the stage, Luz’s body was pierced at every joint by metal wires, a small amount of blood was dripping or running down her body from many of the penetrations. She was twisted into an unnatural looking position, her ankles, knees and neck bent in ways the human body was not intended to. Luz’s head snapped upright and a further set of wires pulled her lips into a monstrous grin, showing her gums.

Like all witches on the Boiling Isles who grew up surrounded by such extreme levels of physical variation in the multitudes of demons they lived side by side with, there was nothing in the abstract about Luz’s appearance that disturbed her. In fact there was a young demon boy in the group of kids Amity read to at the library whose face was utterly deformed by human standards, she thought he was cute. What affected Amity was the violation to Luz clearly being carried out on stage.

Amity’s gaze followed the wires up to the rafters where they were being puppeted by Eda, the Owl Lady as though Luz was a marionette.

The announcer's voice came bombing through the tent, “Be amazed as Luz the human will now walk across the stage!” A gasp of wonder emanated from the audience as Eda was puppeted Luz forward, her spine snapping back and forth with each shambling step.

On reaching the edge the audience cheered while Amity, shaking herself out of her shocked state decided she was going to put a stop to this.

Before she could act though, the announcer's voice came through again, “Would Miss Amity Blight like to take to the stage for her exclusive dance with Luz the human!” Amity felt her heart stop, she could not breathe. On the stage Luz was manipulated to face her, arms contorted open, inviting her.

Amity leapt to her feet, “Not like this!” She shouted, “Never like this!” Her body filled with revulsion, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes like glittering sapphires.

Above the stage Eda fixed her with a menacing stare. She let go of the wires and Luz fell to the ground in the heap, unmoving. Next she leapt down to the stage below. “I don’t like critics.” Eda said evenly, her eyes locked with Amity’s, “I do hope you're not going to leave a...bad review.” Blackness began to pool in Eda’s eyes, her teeth extended as feathers started to pop up over her skin like teenage acne.

Fear overwhelming her, Amity fled from the tent.

Bursting through the entrance she found herself somewhere new. Her eyes darting around Amity saw she was in a large room made of stone, the light was poor. There was a section of green carpet on the floor while lengthy, embroidered, gold banners hung from the walls. What really drew her attention though was the raised section of steps where a throne sat and upon that throne was the Emperor.

Relief flooded the witch girl,  _ My Emperor, my protector _ , she thought. Without hesitation Amity knelled, her head bowed low in humble submission. “Emperor, you honor me with your presence in my dream,” Amity stated. Of course she knew it was not the real Emperor, but given the properties of the astral plane, for her to be dreaming of him, it meant she was connecting with his subconscious.  _ He must have sensed my distress, my pain and lowered his own barriers, allowed me to connect with him _ , she reasoned.

Her head still down she heard him rise from his throne and walk towards her with slow, purposeful footsteps. Reaching her, Emperor Bellows placed a metal gloved hand on her shoulder. Amity winced. To touch the Emperor’s mind, even so indirectly, was such an honor. She did not feel worthy. “Rise my child,” Emperor Bellows said, his voice resonating strength and calm understanding. Amity stood and looked upon the face of the master of the Boiling Isles, hidden though it was behind a golden, horned mask.

Emperor Bellows slowly brought his hand to her face. Amity did not shy away from his touch, her faith in him was absolute. Gently he captured one of the unshed tears at the corner of her left eye and brought it between them. His other hand cupped her chin. “The face of a noble girl from the estemied Blight family should not bear so heavy a burden,” he said solemnly. “Tell me, what ails you Amity?”

Emperor Bellows spoke with familiar tenderness even though they had never met. This was how Amity felt about him in reality, he was the iron hand that united witch society. Each new Emperor was chosen from among the most powerful noble families. An individual who, prior to their ascension to the throne, would prove their suitability to lead to all witches. A witch who knew what was best for them and so it was only right they surrender absolute power to him.

To every noble the Emperor was like a third parent, but one where the relationship would forever be that of a young child towards them. You looked to them to tell you what was right and what was wrong. You did not question it was their place to command you. Above all though, you gave them your unconditional love. 

“In my dream, Eda, the owl lady she-” Emperor Bellows raised his hand, cutting Amity off.

“Perhaps it would be better to talk this through without the weight of ceremony acting as an obstacle between us.” Emperor Bellows said soothingly. “Please, reach up and remove my mask.”

“My Emperor,” Amity gasped, blushing. Swallowing she regained her composure. “As you command.” Amity reached up and took the mask in her hands. She pulled it away, revealing the face of...Eda.

“Boo!” Eda let out loudly, cashing Amity to drop the mask in surprise and even fall backwards to the floor on her butt. “Can’t say I’m particularly thrilled about the threads,” Eda said, looking down at the Emperor's clothes she was wearing. Amity looked up, her eyes wide with shock. “I mean who doesn't love gold, am I right? But I don’t know, this look just screams tyrannical despot and I’m worried it clashes with my hair.”

“You, you're not the Emperor,” Amity let out, her mind at breaking point from the series of back to back shocks it had so recently endured.

“Really?” Eda smirked, “You mean I don’t get the job just by wearing his clothes?” Back on the floor Amity started to get up, clutching her head in her hands. Everything around her felt like it was spinning. “If that’s the case, I might as well ditch it, it was making me look fat anyway.” With a wave of her hand the Emperor’s robes morphed into a black dress, a pointed hat appearing on her head. “Maybe this look is a little dated but I prefer to think of it as a classic.” Eda paused for a moment, a far away look in her eyes, “I have a feeling it’s going to come back into fashion soon though, along with a lot of, other, things from the past.”

With a swift movement Eda’s staff appeared and she shot a mischievous grin at Amity. “Let me show you,” she said, twirling the staff above her head. Magic cascaded all around them and they left the Emperor's castle behind, both of them standing on a cliff overlooking the capital of the Boiling Isles.

“Now this is more like it,” Eda said excitedly, looking down, her face beaming. Amity glanced down too and her blood chilled. It was total mayhem, fires raged uncontrollably while witches and demons rioted and looted. As her eyes focused, bile rose in her throat at the plies of burned bodies while new witches were being tied to stakes and set on fire. From their fine clothes it was clear they belonged to the nobility, like her. “Can’t you just smell the freedom in the air?” Eda asked rhetorically while smiling perversely. “Or, you know, maybe that’s just the smell of burning flesh,” she added, snorting at the end.

“How can you be enjoying this?” Amity asked, her eyes flush with fresh tears, a mixture of horror and self-righteous range overcoming her. “Your evil!”

Eda gave her a patronizing look, “Good, evil? Constructed, relativistic, categories embraced by people too weak or stupid to see beyond the limits of established authority.” Eda would have said more but was interrupted by a blinding flash of light between them revealing, another Eda.

Amity looked at this new Eda, she radiated magical energy, yellow light flowing and arching over her surface continually. She looked at Amity with clear alarm in her eyes and at that moment Amity knew, somehow, this was the real Eda.

“So are we going to gang up on her or do you wanna play good witch, bad witch?” The previous Eda said to the new one.

“Oh I think you’ve said more than enough,” the new Eda said angrily and dissipated the previous Eda into nothing with a magical blast. She turned to face Amity, the bafflement evident in her features. “How are you connected to me? I sealed myself off. Tell me, how did you break though?” Remembered the string Amity attempted to hide her hand behind her back without Eda noticing.

Eda picked up on the movement though and grabbed her arm, yanking it out from behind her. Amity struggled but Eda’s magically enhanced strength was too much for her. For a second Eda stared blankly at the empty hand, the string not having been visible since she ran from the tent and stopped focusing so intensely on Luz.

Amity saw a thought flicker in Eda’s eyes and magic surged into her hand, revealing the red string. Eda dropped her wrist, “Great,” she sighed, “Your soul bonded to Luz. No wonder you got though, you got to me though her.”

“Soul bonded?” Amity queried weakly. It was not a term she had ever heard before.

“Your fates are intertwined kid. Some kind of Universe destiny thing. It’s very rare, I’ve only ever seen it once before myself. Almost no one even knows it’s a thing.”

_ Me and Luz are destined for each other? _ Amity thought. A while ago the revelation would have been exciting, thrilling even, but after everything that had happened it was just another painful weight on her mind, overwhelming her. “Now look, here’s the thing,” Eda started up again, crossing her arms. “I need you to forget what you saw tonight, tell no one.” There was an urgency in her voice, pleading even.

Amity stared at Eda in disbelief, “Why? So you can carry out this?” She gestured to the carnage below them. “No, you have to be stopped! I can’t just let you do this!” Amity was breaking, the accumulated stress crushing her. She felt as though there was an elephant bearing it’s foot down on her chest.

“Amity,” Eda said calmly, trying to placate the traumatized girl before her. “You know this is a dream, it’s not a one to one transmission of my real thoughts and desires. What you're seeing now, that’s just how your mind is processing it. You don’t have the context to understand it. All your knowledge and life experience as a noble is rebelling against what it touched in my subconscious. Fear at the challenge to everything you know is causing you to see this change in the most destructive and violent way possible.”

She wavered, Amity wanted to believe her. This was the witch who helped save Willow from a lifetime of mental deficiency and set their relationship back on the right track. The witch who mentors Luz, who in turn idolizes her.

Amity’s thought’s of Luz caused her to flash back to the scene in the tent where a twisted version of her was being puppeted by Eda. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What about Luz?” Amity asked accusingly. “Whatever you doing she’s part of it isn't she? You're manipulating her, using her.”

“I,” Eda began, then faltered, a trace of shame in her eyes. “I’m not proud of what I’m doing, but it has to be done, there’s no other way.”

“You're taking advantage of an innocent, naive girl who cares about you. From the way she talks about you she’s even starting to see you as a mother figure.” Eda’s mussels tensed. She was squirming under the verbal assault. “What are you even planning to do with her, is she going to be hurt, will she die?!” Amity shouted, growing hysterical.

“No! She’ll be fine, I swear!” Eda shot back, growing agitated from the probing. “I won’t let anything happen to her and when this is over life will be better in the Boiling Isles, for everyone, you just have to trust me.”

“I don’t!” Amity shouted definitely. “You pretend you're just this eccentric, kooky old lady that wants to be left alone but it’s just an act! There’s a reason you have such a massive bounty on your head! You're dangerous, you're a threat!” Amity resolve hardened, “I won’t let you do this. If this soul bond to Luz is the reason I saw this, that can only mean it was so I knew I had to protect her from you. I’ll go to the Emperor's Coven. I’ll tell them everything and they will stop you.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way kid,” Eda said, shaking her head sadly. “But I can’t allow that. “One way or another, you will forget what you saw.” At that, Eda’s hand glowed. Amity recognized the distinct magical pattern of a memory eraser spell forming.

“You stay away from me!” Amity cried, backing up towards the edge of the cliff. The time for words was over however and Eda paid them no heed. Amity knew she would be unable to resist Eda’s magic. She only had seconds and so did the only thing she could, she threw herself off the cliff. As Amity fell she heard an incomprehensible cry from Eda and braced herself for when she would hit the ground, knowing that such impacts always woke her up.

* * *

Underneath a series of blankets a chubby faced, young, black haired witch was groaning. She had been having the most wonderful dream. There was a massive party. All of her friends were there, excluding Luz. She had been having such a good time, laughing and dancing, when she was torn away by the ringing of her magical compact phone, waking her up.

Willow arm reached out from under the covers, groping for the phone on her bedside table. In her foggy state she only succeeded in knocking it to the floor, causing her to groan even louder.  _ Maybe I should just ignore it _ , Will thought sleepily,  _ if it’s that important they’ll leave a message _ .

Eventually the ringing stopped and Willow snuggled her head back into the pillow, closing her eyes. She knew that whatever time it was, it was before she had to get up given her alarm had not gone off yet. Her hopes of falling asleep again were dashed however when moments later her phone started ringing again.

“Ugh,” Willow moaned and threw back the covers, sitting upright. Gazing out the window she could see the sun had barely started to rise. The Boiling Isles did not have seasons like on Earth, the length of the days staying consistent. Willow could judge that she had roughly an hour before she’d have to get up and a quick glance at her spring clock confirmed it.

She looked down at her ringing phone on the floor with a small frown, regarding it the way a chef might an unwanted rodent in their kitchen.

Willow retrieved her phone from the floor and sat on her bed, opening the cover to see just who on the Boiling Isles thought whatever they had to say to her was so important they could not wait till more sociable hours. Looking at the caller ID she blinked in surprise, it was Amity. To her knowledge this was the first time she had ever called her since they began to make up last week after the incident with her memories.

The young witches emotions were tempered. While she was happy that things had progressed to the point Amity wanted to call her, shaking off the years of bullying she had endured from her was proving hard. Oh she knew Amity had her reasons. It was in part a coping mechanism to bury her own pain at the separation her parents had forced on them. Also the dehumanizing effects of having to constantly lie about her feelings for years. Not that knowing that made putting it behind her any easier.

Accepting the call, the small screen was soon filled with Amity’s face, she looked like she was in a state of panic, her breathing erratic, she was practically hyperventilating. “Willow!” Amity shouted through the screen.

“Amity, what’s wrong?” Willow asked, very concerned by her appearance.

“Luz is in danger,” Amity replied. “I know this might sound crazy, but Eda is not what she seems. She’s been sealing Luz off from us on the astral plane, that’s why none of us have dreamt of her. I got through her barriers and the things I saw.” Amity paused, she was tearing up. “I know she helped you when I screwed up big time burning your memories but we can’t trust her.”

Willow sat in stunned silence as Amity’s words washed over her. The gulf between their believably and the utter sincerity with which Amity delivered them was simply too vast for her to get her head round. “And another thing,” Amity continued. “I don’t even think Luz came to the Boiling Isles by accident.”

Willow could not keep silent any longer, “Amity that’s,” she paused, trying to think of a word that was not crazy. After a moment she gave up and just moved on. “She told you how she got here right? She just followed Eda’s palisman, Owlbert, through the portal.”

“Followed?” Amity said, her voice questioning, “Or led?” Despite her misgivings Willow felt a slight chill run down her spine. “Luz, a naive and impressionable human, obsessed with witches and magic, desperate to become a witch and have a powerful mentor. She just happens to stumble into a portal to the Boiling Isles, encountering Eda, the very day she is due to leave for summer camp, away from her mother for the whole summer so she won’t be missed?”

Willow fell deathly silent, the impact of Amity’s words shaking her. “Amity” she said, breaking the silence, her voice serious. “Tell me everything.”

* * *

The early morning rays of sunlight drifted through the windows of an upstairs room in the owl house. In a large, human sized, nest Edalyn Clawthorne, the owl lady, stirred.

During the night a dozen grey feathers had emerged from the pores of her skin. A few hung loosely from her cheeks, giving her the appearance of a messy toddler that had attempted, and failed, to eat a bowl of porridge.

Stiff limbs protested at the demands Eda’s brain placed on them as she rose, her mind cloudy and unfocused. She shuffled to a chest by the wall with the exhaustion of an overworked single parent holding down two jobs to support five kids. Rooting through it, Eda brought out a bottle of her elixir and downed it like it was black coffee.

As the feathers receded Eda’s cognitive state improved and the events of last night came flashing back to her. “Damn it,” Eda let out, dropping the empty bottle as she brought her hands to her head, pulling her hair.

For the next several minutes Eda replayed her interactions with Amity in her dream over and over trying to where she might have gone wrong.  _ Not that it matters _ , she thought bitterly,  _ what’s done is done. I’ve got to get a grip on this before things spiral out control _ .

Eda considered her options, charging headlong into the Blight manor to confront Amiry, either winning her over or erasing her memories was not an option. The Blight family was one of the wealthiest and most powerful in the Boiling Isles. Their home would no doubt be protected by all kinds of enchantments. With enough time she figured she could blast her way in. The issue was that the full force of the Emperor's coven,  _ led by my more poor brainwashed sister _ , Eda thought dryly, would arrive to stop her before she got through.

Worse, she’d put them in a position where they’d have no choice but to get serious. Deep down, as much as she bragged about being the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, she knew that the only reason she had lasted this long was by laying low. Gone would be the cat and mouse games they’d been playing on and off for the last few decades, it would be all out war and she was not ready.

_ I don’t have a choice _ , Eda reasoned,  _ I have to contact the others _ .

* * *

In a deep crater, under a foreboding cloud of smoke and ash lay the Emperor's castle. During its construction, after the conspirators seized power centuries ago, witches came from all across the Boiling Isles to stare in wonder and morbid fascination.

A castle was something alien, something imported from the human realm, a place for armies to attack or defend. The Boiling Isles in the time of the tribes had been without armies. The very notion of taking an entire section of the population out of society for the sole purpose of enforcing order and conformity on everyone else never occurred to anyone and if it had they would have simply laughed at the notion.

Deep within the fortress, in a lavish bedchamber, Emperor Bellows awoke. Like a cobra striking his eyes snapped open, a thin smile on his lips. “You should play your cards closer to your chest Eda,” Emperor Bellows said aloud to himself. He rose from his bed and pulled a bell, summoning his personal assistant to his chambers. Emperor Bellows dressed, hearing a knock on his door as he placed his mark on. Once it was secured he responded, “Enter,” he said and the door creaked open.

In his chambers walked his assistant, the demon Kikimora. She bowed her head respectfully, “My Emperor” she said by way of greeting and waited to be appointed to her tasks.

“You will go to Hexside School of Magic and Demonics,” Emperor Bellows instructed, “There you will consult with Principal Bump and instruct him to pass on to you all the information he has about the human Luz and the three Blight siblings who are attending his school. The enrollment forms are very thorough, an applicant is required to write a comprehensive personal history. You will acquire me copies of these records in full along with all other information you acquire. If he objects to violations to school protocols, merely remind him that you are my my eyes, ears, hands and mouth. You act in my name and my will is absolute. Additionally give instructions that the human Luz is to be monitored at all times, discreetly. Daily reports will be given to you and any information you deem significant you will pass on to me.”

Taking her cue from the pause that Emperor Bellows had finished, Kikimora bowed her head, “It shall be done, my Emperor,” she said and left to carry out her orders.


End file.
